303 Comments

Thanks, Josh. Looking forward to this series. Hoping we can get lucky and sweep. Two out of three would be good for me, too! It’s time to make a move if we are going to limb back into the race. Giants look like crap right now….Dbacks and Rockies not too bad but, I think we can get back in the race.

ThinkCure is one of those Frank’s charities, isn’t it? Enough said.
Hard to believe Josh is still huckstering it in view of what has been disclosed by no less an authority than the Attorney General of the state. Frank should be getting sued for fraud instead of conducting a weekend event for the sham.

Shad, I think you’ll like Richards. He was Philly’s captain. Schenn is a great prospect, but if he’s lucky he’ll be as good as Richards is now. Have a look at the Flyer’s message board. They’re all pissed off. I take that as a good sign.

Who knows maybe the Halos Fans will be scared to come to Dodger Stadium….!
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My son just got to meet one of his favorite players…Jamey Carrol…he was so excited. Too bad I was stuck at work and couldn’t be there with him!

Give money to a charity run by boss and the former Mrs? Even I am not that stupid. Especially in light of all the money they’ve tried to steal from the charity, you have to be kidding Josh, right, this is a joke?

What with all the fun with McCourt, I lose sight of what is happening on the field. We’re getting a couple of pitchers back and Loney is coming around. Ethier, Kemp, and Carrol are solid and the others chip in a bit. The Gordon kid looks like a keeper.
Call me crazy, but this is still up for grabs. This could still turn into an interesting season for the right reasons. I can hope.

Okay…the list paid attendance as: 43,640. Vinny didn’t even give it….I wonder if they stopped announcing it because of the severe drop off. I know the crowd was larger than the previous series but, I’d say there weren’t more than 25,000 there.

We are now 9 games out! Way to go. I have a suggestion for you Donnie…since Uribe really sucks and you have to play him DO NOT BAT HIM 2ND…move him to the 8th hole because he’s not good enough to bat 9th. The pitcher has a better chance of turning it over to the top of the order than Juan does. Thank-you!

lol according to Donny suppose comment he said last month I think that why he had Carroll batting 8th. Does it really matter and I really think Donny doing this on purpose and try to get McCourt to sell the team and have Ned not trade away any more prospects

That was easy to predict. Our 23-game winning streak of lower attendance has been halted. Damned Angel fans. I doubt they’ve stopped giving attendance figures but you never know. Speaking of that…….
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What’s happened to “God Bless America“? I didn’t see it tonight. I was watching on the DVR, forwarding past the commercials. I went back to look for it and if they sang it at the Stadium, they sure didn’t show it on TV. Has the owner stopped it because it cuts into commercial time? Am I being paranoid?
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Game 41 attendance (2010): 41,575
Today’s attendance courtesy of trumom: 43,640
Greater than last year = 6 / Less than last year = 34
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Games less than 30,000 this season – 6
Games less than 30,000 in 2005 – 2010: none
Last game was 9/14/2004 – 29,704
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Lowest attended game of the year: Game 8 – 27,439
Largest single game drop: Game 18 (55,662 – 28,419 = 27,243)
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2010 attendance (41 games) – 1,838,119 (44,832 average)
2011 attendance (41 games) – 1,467,411 (35,791 average) #10 in MLB
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Drop of 370,708 total
Average drop of 9042
Extrapolated for 81 games – 732,374
Projected 2011 final attendance – 2,899,031
2010’s final attendance – 3,562,318 (#3 in MLB)
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Next game’s (42) attendance in 2010 – 41,947
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I’m kind of floored. The Times printed my letter. The whole thing! I’ve never had one of the long ones make it without editing. There are some great ones there, especially from Jeff White and Mike Gamboa. Cudos!http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-letters-20110625,0,6214372,full.story

I know Vin remarked that Navarro set a record by throwing out 4 runners, but I wonder what the record is for most runners thrown out by the whole team? The Angels had 6 (I think) and 2 more Dodgers were tossed out at the plate.

Out-friggin’-standing north! And the sooner the better!
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Yeah shad. Simmonds was a favorite of mine too, and I was looking forward to seeing what Schenn would become. Some call him the best prospect in hockey. But to get you gotta give, and we got a good one. The Kings still have a lot of room under the cap to get a sniper winger. Let’s hope they get one, and that someone wakes up Dustin Penner.
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Thanks Junie, I picked up a copy of the Times this morning to save the issue only to see that my letter didn’t make the print edition! LOL!! Man, newspapers are skinny these days! It’s been a while since I grabbed one I guess.

“The figure was of the number of tickets sold, not of the actual number of fans in the stands. Still, the number was the lowest for a Freeway Series game at Dodger Stadium since 2001.”http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-0625-dodgers-angels-20110625,0,2409820.story
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…and from the print edition, “Jonathon Broxton struck out the side for AAA Albuquerque on Thursday……but the average velocity of his fastball was 93 mph, down from 95 mph two days earlier”. Probably not a good sign.
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Also from print, “Frank McCourt has some Latino allies, but Congressional Hispanic Caucus says it will not stand with him in his battle with Bud Selig.” ¡Hurra!

Good article. No prisoners.
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JOSH!!!!
I know your agreement to work for the Dodgers has some sort of confidentiality clause, but some time in the future, when this mess has been hashed out, you could consider a memoir about your days with the club. No doubt there is a bunch of info we never hear and it would make interesting reading some day.

Good idea, as long as they serve Pacifico. Or not.
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Moving Furcal to 2nd sounds like a good idea. The Kid looks like the future, he’s holding down the position, so let him play. Furcal may stay healthy for more than 5 minutes at second.

As far as free agent signings go, Furcal has been a mixed bag. By all indications, Raffy is a solid citizen, a good person, good teammate and when healthy, a decent all around player. As everyone knows, he has not been healthy enough and the Dodgers have suffered for it. Raffy has never been my ideal type of leadoff hitter but he has been the best alternative since he has been a Dodger. I felt going into this season that Furcal’s ability to stay in the lineup would be a critical element in how well the Dodgers might do, not that I really expected him to be injury free. I still would like to see if Gordon can hit major league pitching but it sure does seem he has a lot of talent with the glove.

Nobatro and Urweeney are a total waste. Both below the infamous Phew line. Loney has now moved into positive territory in VORP. He’s actually contributing and is no longer a huge black hole in the lineup. Hope he can keep it going.

Thanks Nelly. I think the Dodgers are toast this season thanks to Frank and Furter. Hopefully, they well be gone soon and we can move on from this dark chapter in Dodger history. I don’t think it matters whether we are buyers or sellers in July. We should be sellers. With Ned doing the dealing, either way, we will be screwed. It’s looking like Frank is close to being gone and I’m sure a new owner will show Ned the door. Then we can look forward to rebuilding this once proud franchise.

Kind of funny to see all the love for JP these days compared to the vitrium thrown his way on these pages while he wore Dodger blue. Love him or hate him, JP is the only free agent signing in recent memory who played up to his capabilities and past performance. He was pretty much the same player when he signed as when he left. He was no better but certainly no worse. He was overpaid but then again, so are many free agents. He was ready to play every day and seldom needed time off to nurse an injury. And coincidentally, the Dodgers have not done too well since he has been gone.

Jhall, suprised Soboroff lasted this long. This guy did come in with some impressive credentials so I do have to wonder why he would want to associate with Frank McCourt. Perhaps Soboroff knew full well with whom he was dealing and really wanted to do something to make a difference and if so, it must have been a shock to find out the next day MLB is taking over. How is that for a positive spin?

He got thrown out by a sawed-off ump when he went in the dugout complaining about a check swing a few pitches previous to his strikeout. He was already in the dugout when the ump threw him out, so maybe “Blue” (or “D***head” as I’ve been calling him since the first inning) wanted to see himself in the papers.

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An ump who has been calling inside pitches strikes that aren’t grabbing any of the plate, by the way.

In addition to talentless, clueless and hapless, you can add heartless and souless to this sadsack bunch of losers. When this team gets a new owner, I’d replace EVERYONE and try and start over with some players, coaches and management that actually gave a shit.

It’s getting too boring to even watch this team anymore.
The manager is an asshole, and his coaching staff SUCKS.
I wish they televised ABQ instead – at least that might be a competitive game against another AAA team. Right now with the Dodgers we have to watch an AAA quality team matched against major league competition.
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Hello Tru and Nelly and Jhall :)…..I never told you all i went to opening day and Apr 1,2….Had a good time….Just wanted to see Dodger Stadium…Might come next year but only when Frank is out on his ass which hopefully should be soon

Game 42 attendance (2010): 41,946
Today’s attendance courtesy of trumom: 41,108
Greater than last year = 6 / Less than last year = 35
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Games less than 30,000 this season – 6
Games less than 30,000 in 2005 – 2010: none
Last game was 9/14/2004 – 29,704
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Lowest attended game of the year: Game 8 – 27,439
Largest single game drop: Game 18 (55,662 – 28,419 = 27,243)
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2010 attendance (42 games) – 1,880,066 (44,763 average)
2011 attendance (42 games) – 1,508,519 (35,917 average) #10 in MLB
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Drop of 371,547 total
Average drop of 8846
Extrapolated for 81 games – 716,555
Projected 2011 final attendance – 2,909,287
2010’s final attendance – 3,562,318 (#3 in MLB)
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Next game’s (43) attendance in 2010 – 43,640

Kyle Russell has had himself a nice time the last 3 days for our AA team in Chattanooga. From: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20110531&content_id=19820710&vkey=news_t498&fext=.jsp&sid=t498
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“Kyle Russell burned through three straight days of slugging against the Mudcats and Stars. On May 23, he went 4 for 4 with two doubles and two consecutive homeruns….. Going 3 for 4 on May 24, every hit was a double ….. May 25 …. He went 3 for 5 again, with two consecutive homeruns to right center field in the third and fifth innings and hit another RBI double in the eighth….. Russell earned 10 RBI, 8 runs, 6 doubles and 4 homeruns in 14 at-bats May 23-25.”

Playing the kids would imply this franchise has some sort of plan for the future (or just plain future for that matter), which it does not, and never has had under Frank & Furter. My guess is that some of these kids will be gone at the trade deadline because Ned will trade them for some more worthless crap to save our season and to put some butts in the seats.
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Of course, exactly the opposite would be true. I think if you played the kids and got rid of the PVLs it might give a few extra people reason to hope and come out to the park, but logic and baseball acumen have not only escaped this regime, its been missing altogether since day one.
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At the risk of blasphemy, the only untouchables I’d have from this year’s squad would be Kemp, Kersh, DeLaRosa and Gordon. Everyone else, including Dre I’d be trading for as many prospects as would be possible so that maybe in 2013 or 2014 I might have a viable contender. But again, that would call for a plan and a GM with at least rudimentary intelligence, plus I doubt Schaefer (sp?) would allow much of anyone to be traded to where it would be a “fire sale”, though that’s exactly what this club needs.

Hi’Ya Beav. If you recall, the McCourts did/do have a plan. Their master plan was to cut the payroll and increase ticket, parking, and concession prices. They have implemented and accomplished those goals and now we are left with the current dung heap that Nedildo and DonDo call a team.

Glad to read Kyle Russell is doing well. Funny – When I first started reading and in particular started writing on ITD, we begged for them to play the kids. Now, here we are 3,4 years later pleading for the same thing. The Isotopes are fun to follow. They are coming to Fresno in August to play the Grizzlies, and as long as it works into the schedule, we are definitely going.

lol 1 and 2 is non existent too at least Loney does have a production .280+ batting average. I never thought Carroll would be non existent but he’s worthless in the 8th spot and once again you let Miles bat 6th and not the non producted worthless in driving in runs Carroll there.

James Baldwin and I know it been 6 games but this guy is on fire and have alreadt hit 2 HR’s and 11 rbi’s. and had 2 HR’s in 179 AB’s last year. I hate to used to copy and paste on this board in term of getting stats because they have these numbers on different lines instead of one big line or maybe I have to put the code in.

BRANKRUPTCY….WTF…STUBBORN GREEDY A$$WHOLE…FRANK!!!! JUST DO WHAT’S RIGHT FOR THE TEAM AND SELL IT! YOU ARE NOT WANTED BY THE TEAM, NOT WANTED BY MLB, NOT WANTED BY FOX, NOT WANTED BY LOS ANGELES, NOT WANTED BY THE FANS….GO AWAY AND SELL THE TEAM
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Please Josh & ITD excuse my language!

With no Fox deal, just where did Frank get a $150 million line of bankruptcy credit?
What bullshit! Of course, he will do anything to prolong his presence whatever the consequences. I can’t see where this move does anything other than diminish the value of the franchise whenever it’s all over. That’s Frank’s way, and it’ll hurt Jamie plenty – not that I care, nor probably does Frank.
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As far as Rawitch, I hope the miserable spin fucker is one of the first out the door when this is all over. Nothing but a mouthpiece for the miserable ownership. Nobody with a title of manager of anything other than Logan White should be kept with this organization.

With today’s turn of events, I’m more thoroughly disgusted than ever. I hope that all of you are as well. In addition to financially bankrupt, IMO Frank is morally and ethicaly bankrupt as well.
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THEREFORE, I’d like to call for a BOYCOTT OF ITD. I personally want nothing to do with Frank or his happy-faced minion, and I hope you’ll join me.
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Boycotting ITD for the duration of Frank’s tenure doesn’t however mean I want everyone to throw away the comaraderie and friendships we’ve made here. Ergo with Dodgereric’s permission, I’d like to suggest we move over to his Dodger Lyrics website:
.http://dodgereric.mlblogs.com/
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and use it as our new venue. If Eric doesn’t have a new thread available (which wouldn’t surprise me), we can start off og the You & Me thread for today’s game.
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Hope to see you all there!!
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And FUCK YOU FRANK!!

Folks, I am usually not at a loss for words but today’s filing, while not surprising, leaves me with little more to say that has not already been said. But I do know this: I am not happy that the one little thing we had going was the ITD blog (remember we were called a cult sometime back?) and even that is fading away by constant movement to other threads. In addition, I now realize Jimmy Dykes (Tom Hanks in A League of Their Own, was wrong when he said there is no crying in baseball. I have a hard time believing Tommy, Vinny and maybe a few other old time Dodgers did not shed a tear or two today.

lbirken, I hear you and feel your angst. 2011, for me, will always be remembered as the painful lost summer of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Perhaps Frank will receive a visit from the ghost of Branch Rickey, as well as the ghosts of Dodgers past, present and future, and see the light. Perhaps he’ll just drop dead. But I’ll keep coming back to this blog. To those bloggers who are leaving in their ‘Wooden Ships” to find a new shore, please remember, contrary to Kantner’s and Crosby’s lament, “you don’t need us,” ITD certainly DOES need you.

I love this blog, and all the people who comment here, even though my comments tend to be as redundant as the owner who’s running the team.

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I LOVE the Dodgers, and will never stop until Frank changes the colors to pink and yellow and names us the Los Angeles Pink’s Hot Doggers.

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I believe in supporting the team on the field, and see no problem with getting tix on StubHub to help the season ticket holders get a (in Plaschke’s case) $2.55 return on their investment.

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But I can’t abide being nice to someone who puts himself first. I mean, I can understand looking out for yourself, who else is gonna do it? But in this case, it’s not a corner store, not a business that only affects a surrounding community. This business McCourt currently owns affects millions of people around the world, and he’s not only hurting the fans, players, coaches, and the poor, poor food and souvineir vendors who are affected WAY MORE DIRECTLY by a boycott than Frank McCourt, but he’s hurting himself by devaluing the franchise with each petulant move he makes.

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I’m saddened for all Dodger Employees that their boss is looking out for Number 1. Go Dodgers, always and forever.

****Hey Josh**** you have said in the past that the front office reads ITD and listens to us. Does Frank as well?
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I’m seriously not trying to be a smart alack. I just know in the past you said that what we say here doesn’t fall on deaf ears. Doesn’t Frank realize that he’s fighting a losing battle and by continuing to play this game has done nothing other than devalue the franchise which in the long run costs him more money? If the team is in better financial shape then the value is higher. If the value is higher then when it’s sold he’ll make more.
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The more he “dents” the organization the less $$$ he’s going to get.
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Also by dragging this on and the organization through what he has will just make the fans dislike him more and then never come back if he’s still the owner.
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Seriously — enough is enough….

Best sight of the night, which they showed on the jumbo torn was two Twins fans wearing paperbags on there heads with a talking bubble saying, “At least our boss is stable!” Not only was the paperbag thing funny because of this blog, but I have to wholeheartedly agree with what they did. Shame on you Frank McCourt!!! Shame on you!!!
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BTW – the Dodgers are winning 15-0. We have 24 hits so far. Great night for Trent Oeltjen!!!

From the LA Times…
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Lopes said he found it curious that owner Frank McCourt hasn’t spoken to the players about recent events.

“No one’s explained anything to us, which I find a little ironic, for the lack of a better word,” he said. “Major League Baseball came down and did their little five-minute introduction when they were taking over operations, but beyond that, no one’s talked to them at all. I don’t know if it would help but it would get respect. I find it ironic that Mr. McCourt has not come down to address the players at all. I just don’t understand that. Obviously, he has his reasons. I just don’t understand that.”
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Nor do I!
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As Nelly said … Shame on you Frank — classless & clueless.
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The more I read the more angry and disappointed I get.

LOL..NELLY….I didn’t see the BrownPaperBagged Twins….but that was funny. I’ve had Gians fans relatives post on FB that they will help with a car wash to raise money for the team…PUNKS….but I did laugh!
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I did not know Aussy pips play baseball??? GREAT JOB TRENT OELTJEN!

Collie, there is something in the plans for something at the stadium before a game. details are still being formulated.
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Thank you Tru! having a great time here. Met the blogger from http://heirloom.mlblogs.com/ I will see him again at the game tonight. He is a Dodger fan and a Twin fan. originally from Reseda, CA. I think it is great that it was his mom that introduced him to baseball. His dad did not care for the sports but there was mom to do that.

The $150 million interim financing under the bankruptcy is being provided by a hedge fund, which always sounds somewhat nondesript and anonymous, but it has been disclosed that the fund is owned by JP Morgan Chase. Anybody with Chase credit cards or other ties to JP Morgan Chase may want to consider changing to other arrangements.Let the BOYCOTT roll!.

Did you ever notice that whenever Frank McCourt has bad news, the team plays so much better? IMO – the boys in blue celebrate every time Frank McCourt takes another step closer to ending his ownership of the team.
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On April 20th, MLB/Bud Selig announces they are taking over the team. The Boys in Blue answer with a three game winning streak.
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On June 27th, McCourt files for bankruptcy. The Boys in Blue answer with a 15-0 shellacking of the Twins.

O.K., guys – JP Morgan Chase doesn’t want to do business in southern California any longer; they want to fund Frank’s continuing effort to hold onto the Dodgers despite what all the fans want.BOYCOTT the bastards at JP Morgan Chase! Fuck them all – this comes straight from messagebear.

Just called and cancelled my Chase credit card. It’s not like other banks aren’t very happy to issue you a replacement one. Made sure I asked for a supervisor to tell her my reason for doing so and asked her to make sure she let’s her bosses know why.

MLB to Dodgers’ owner: 3 strikes and you’re outhttp://money.cnn.com/2011/06/28/news/companies/dodgers_bankruptcy_mlb_response/
Excerpt from above story:
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Kirkland & Ellis partner Jonathan Henes, who is not representing any of the parties in this case, said that McCourt is hoping a bankruptcy judge might order the Fox deal to be completed.
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But Henes said the chances of such a ruling may have decreased now that the league has offered to fund the team through bankruptcy He expects the court will accept MLB’s financing offer.
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“I think we are at the beginning of the end of … the drama and … McCourt’s ownership,” Henes said.

So today’s decision on pushing everything to July 20th puts us much closer to the trading deadline of July 31. If the Dodgers are still in bankruptcy court at the end of July, doesn’t that automatically make them sellers rather than buyers? Or is that too simplistic?

Should the hedge fund loans be approved and not paid back, I have the sinking feeling that the Dodgers will be playing at the JP Morgan Chase Stadium. This entire situation is beyond amazing. I’ve never heard of anyone being so selfish, self-centered and self serving as Frank McCourt. Blah!!!!

Sparkle, is it possible Frank may have found a way to sell the naming rights without actually selling the naming rights? Could this be another of those “loans” Frank takes with no intention of ever paying it back? I hope MLB looks into this aspect.

“The agreement includes reducing a proposed exit fee for the lending group from $4.5 million to $250,000, and removing certain deadlines regarding the sale of broadcast rights.”
Sounds like MLB trying to keep the value of the Dodgers at an optimum price…for a SALE!
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Here’s my favorite part:
“Earlier Tuesday, the league accused Dodgers owner Frank McCourt of siphoning off more than $100 million in revenue and driving the team into a liquidity crisis.”
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Best interests of baseball? I think McCourt is TOAST.

Oh heavy sigh. Very sad and frustrating day. Another 3 weeks of waiting. Most people still believe Frank will be gone eventually and Bud is just being compliant with the Bankruptcy court to further get his case in order. I really don’t know if I can continue to invest my time and heart into the Dodgers if McBroke is allowed to remain as the owner. I think if he does remain as the Dodger owner, once Kemp, Ethier, and Kersh are gone, I will be also.

“A person familiar with Major League Baseball’s plans says the league ‘probably’ will file a motion to seize the cash-strapped Los Angeles Dodgers.
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Baseball’s constitution allows Commissioner Bud Selig to take control of a team that seeks Chapter 11 protection. MLB first must file a motion seeking termination of the franchise, and the person says that is ‘probably going to happen.’ There is no timetable for that filing.”
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And on a bizarre note, the name of the judge in today’s Delaware proceedings: Kevin Gross.

This process could be a long & painfull one. Prolonging the fans suffering stinks. I was hoping this mess would be cleared up by the all star break. McCrook just can’t get out of this picture fast enough for me. .

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